A Month in the Life

Hi. We haven't met. My name is Tim Burns. I am 26 years old. I grew up in St. Louis. I was in Bible Quizzing against Kent Kurry coached teams. Yeah, we won some of those quizzes too, Kent! I now live in Southern California. I am a graduate student at Loyola Marymount University (LMU). I'm a semester and half away from getting my M.A. in Philosophy. I also teach a Critical Thinking class in the philosophy department to undergrads at LMU. I have 20 students in my class, 19 freshmen and 1 sophomore. I'm currently in the process of applying for admission to the Ph.D. program at UC Riverside. I've sworn to myself that I will have my application done by the end of this month. So, between that, writing two papers for my Grad Seminars, and teaching I've got the most stressful month of my life ahead of me. (Just a side note my doctor says my blood pressure is about 150/100 right now, which I guess is high. I think it's the stress.)

But, enough about me, let's talk about you. Oh wait, this type of communication is inherently monologic. We can't talk. Only I can talk. If that's the case, then this could get ugly.

Along another line of thought, still introductory, I don't really know what to expect from this month. I guess you'll find me airing my griefs and expressing my opinions. I have alot of opinions on alot of subjects. Most of these views somehow end up being controversial. My political opinions lean pretty far to the "left" (whatever that means) of most of the people I know who would read 90&9. Want an example? I'm in favor of legalizing gay marriage. (Kent, I've got misgivings about this guy. Are you sure about this? Well, we can always change the locks.) My theological beliefs have been strongly influenced by a long stay at a Catholic university, encounters with Thomas Aquinas, and Latin American liberation theology. I will never forget a conversation I had with a certain Pastor, who shall remain nameless. I don't want to incriminate anyone. He told me, "There's too much political correctness in today's world, even in the church. In my opinion if you haven't offended someone at the end of your sermon you haven't done a good job." I took his opinion to heart, with a grain of salt.

I look forward to some interesting dialogue, again assuming that there's a way for you to respond to these. I don't know. Can you respond to these? I guess I should go check the 90&9 website.

Labels: gay marriage, stress, Tim Burns, welcome to my life